Forever – The Complete Series

Forever struggled to find its stride over its first, and only, season on television. Casting Ioan Gruffudd as immortal police examiner and Alana De La Garza as Police Detective Jo Martinez, the show fit into the police procedural mold of shows like Bones while also introducing fantasy elements about Henry’s past and his immortality.

Balancing the murder-of-the-week against Henry’s past and hiding his condition (of returning from the dead every time he met his end in the nearest body of water) from his partner proved to be a challenge for the show. Along the way we also got to know Henry’s elderly son Abe (Judd Hirsch), Henry’s missing wife Abigail (Mackenzie Mauzy), Henry’s lab assistant Lucas (Joel David Moore), and an evil immortal (Burn Gorman) fascinated by finally finding someone else like him after centuries.

Highlights include the introduction of Hilarie Burton as dominatrix Iona Payne, a recurring character and potential love interest for Henry, and the cat-and-mouse play between Henry and Adam over the season.

I was sad to see Forever get cancelled after only a s single season. While the show was hardly ever great, and I found aspects of Henry’s immortality goofy at best, it did offer a different take on the police procedural and certainly had room to grow and improve had it stayed on the air longer than a single season. I would have liked to have seen the Adam subplot played out and spent more time on the flashbacks to Henry’s past, which was fertile ground for all kinds of flashbacks and different lives over the years.

All 22 episodes are collected on this five-disc DVD collection with only a few deleted scenes as extras.